Preparations continue for huge Enke memorial service

Nov 13, 2009, 12:38 GMT

   Hamburg - A huge memorial service is expected Sunday for Hanover 96 and Germany goalkeeper Robert Enke with tens of thousands of people expected to attend.

Enke's suicide on Tuesday has led to an outpouring of grief that has spread beyond Germany's footballing community with talks in Hanover now ongoing to name a square in the city in his memory.

Germany's national team will also attend the service to be held at the Hanover team's stadium on Sunday while the German football federation DFB has called off Saturday's friendly international against Chile.

Talks are also underway about Germany organizing a international match next year to honour Enke.

   'So far there have only been initial suggestions but a decision hasn't yet been made, DFB media director Harald Stenger said Friday.

A funeral, at which family and friends will attend, will be held near Enke's home. Enke, 32, who had been treated for depression since 2003, was killed by a train on a level crossing near his home.

   DFB president Theo Zwanziger is convinced the player's death offers the opportunity to change attitudes in football towards the illness in future.

'Following this tragedy, we all have to think about how we can break the existing taboos,' Zwanziger told Friday's Bild newspaper.

   Enke's widow Teresa said Wednesday he had tried to keep his illness from becoming public out of fear of both losing his adoptive daughter Leila and risking his playing career.

   The couple had lost their daughter Lara who died in 2006 of a rare heart condition when she was just two.